I came across this article on ABC internet site and wondered why ban or burn ... couldn't it be slashing for feed or mulch ?
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/content/2007/s2205122.htm
Gamba Grass??
Moderator: webmaster
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Angela Helleren
- Posts: 96
- Joined: Sat May 19, 2007 6:45 am
- Location: Victoria
Gamba Grass??
Many hands make light work.
Unfortunately, too many hands stirring anti clockwise, has spoiled mother natures recipe.
Back to basics.
Unfortunately, too many hands stirring anti clockwise, has spoiled mother natures recipe.
Back to basics.
These people who push these 'invasive weed' ideas are pushing their own agendas.
Haven't they heard of climate change and CO2?
Gamba grass is eaten by native animals and can sequester 27 per cent more carbon from the atmosphere than native savannah grasses.
These people see things growing and freak out saying it grows quickly too up to 4m in height. Isn't that what the world needs to sequester carbon?...things green and growing?? But what do these idiots want to do.....BURN the very thing that can save the planet....burn the PLANTS!!
To quote a friend "My experience is that these organisations with dysfunctional cultural intelligence are unable to comprehend common sense or the need for community cultural intelligence borne of the environment in which they live." If there was ever a plant was was not edible at some stage in its life cycle or could survive in its own residue it would have overtaken the world by now.
Let it grow, slash it and use it as mulch.....HOW EASY IS THAT??
Haven't they heard of climate change and CO2?
Gamba grass is eaten by native animals and can sequester 27 per cent more carbon from the atmosphere than native savannah grasses.
These people see things growing and freak out saying it grows quickly too up to 4m in height. Isn't that what the world needs to sequester carbon?...things green and growing?? But what do these idiots want to do.....BURN the very thing that can save the planet....burn the PLANTS!!
To quote a friend "My experience is that these organisations with dysfunctional cultural intelligence are unable to comprehend common sense or the need for community cultural intelligence borne of the environment in which they live." If there was ever a plant was was not edible at some stage in its life cycle or could survive in its own residue it would have overtaken the world by now.
Let it grow, slash it and use it as mulch.....HOW EASY IS THAT??
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Shirley Henderson
- Posts: 356
- Joined: Sun May 06, 2007 4:03 pm
- Location: Thirlmere
slahing
Hi Duane, I am trying really heard to stop spraying of herbicde in the reserve I work on. Even though weed grasses are mixed with native grasses it has been recommended to spray. Even though they know it will kill the native grasses as well there comment is that as the grasses grow back they can then weed onut the non-natives. The grasssed area I speak of is a functioning habitat and a healthy recovering one which used to be an equestrian centre, compacted and disturbed. Now it has been proven that Native grasses re-establish best mixed with non-native grasses , I just cant see the point of it all but it is such a battle to get this through to people. I am asking that they slash and mulch. I will let you know if it happend and how it goes. Are you aware that cryptogams are primary colonisers? Bryophytes, mosses, lichen fungi etc. Do you have a lot of that on the demonstartion sites? Also Glyphosate causes these to disappear for up to four years. These are an important component to the soil that is often forgotten or overlooked.
Shirley
Shirley
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Shirley Henderson
- Posts: 356
- Joined: Sun May 06, 2007 4:03 pm
- Location: Thirlmere
gamba
Hi Angela, This is crazy isn.t it. Why cant they feed it to the animals or put animals in these areas to eat it. It seems a waste of good food, and a terrible pollution issue. Surely in this day and age scientists can come up with better solutions that burn and destroy. What about manage and use to the benefit of us and the environment. Im sticking with NSF and I will keep saying Peter Andrews and Natural Sequence Farming until everyone has heard of him, of NSF and is willing to change their thinking.
My own experiences with Glyphosate is that it kills all plant life including Bryophytes, mosses, lichen fungi etc. And that you comments " Also Glyphosate causes these to disappear for up to four years" certainly to be true. About four years ago we had a majot outbreak of Farmers friend...I had an old bottle of Glyphosate left in the shed and decided to use it up on these 'weeds'. A couple of weeks later the plants were looking as you would expect then came the rain. two weeks after the rain I looked in horror at my downhill neighbours garden....everything was dying. I was mystified.
My early recollections with this product suggested that once sprayed onto plants any overspray became inert once in touch with the soil and that it was safe and non residual.
My own experience is the opposite and validates yours Shirley...it is now 4 years and there is not a living thing growing in my neighbours where the chemical , I believe, was carried to with the rainwater surfce runoff.
I give my experience to others and advise that they slash and mulch for a more natural method of control.
My early recollections with this product suggested that once sprayed onto plants any overspray became inert once in touch with the soil and that it was safe and non residual.
My own experience is the opposite and validates yours Shirley...it is now 4 years and there is not a living thing growing in my neighbours where the chemical , I believe, was carried to with the rainwater surfce runoff.
I give my experience to others and advise that they slash and mulch for a more natural method of control.
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Shirley Henderson
- Posts: 356
- Joined: Sun May 06, 2007 4:03 pm
- Location: Thirlmere
glyphosate
I am not meaning to get off the subject of Gamba grass but glyphosate is a pesticide widely used to control plants. Wanting to know the long term effects studied in Australia I have not been able to find any. Only those that pertain to weed control, resistance and similar. None actually relating to the long term effects of gyphosate on the environment. If there are some out there please let us know. I found this a very interesting topic covered overseas. Follow the link and read up on the effects of glyphosate on the environment in a number of studies. It is a very interesting read and frightening for those of us that are trying to retain natural bushland as it seems to drive wildlife away through lack of food and shelter, disrupting and changing the food chain totally for a number of years. I also would like to see trials of this nature carried out in Australia as too late is too late when things are dead and gone. All life no matter how small are components of the environment and these are often overlooked, yet they can break the food chain causing immense changes in the long term. Also for those interested in predators, ants are top of the food chain in the insect world and there is also a very interesting read about that. These trials are recorded over periods of 5, 10 and 15 years some observations up to 20. http://www.umaine.edu/mafes/elec_pubs/t ... /tb192.pdf
Thanks for posting this link Shirley...their conclusions are not too disimilar to ours i.e.," In the short-term, abundance or biomass of non-crop deciduous trees and herbaceous vegetation, species diversity, and species richness may be reduced by applications of glyphosate herbicides, but recovery begins within the first two to four years following treatment."
There were however some exceptions.
There were however some exceptions.
Hi, an interesting topic Angela.
My own experience with glyphosate is long. I have been spraying it over every acre I crop since around 1985.
As our cropping area over that time has averaged around 5000 acres I calculate that I have sprayed something in the vicinity of 115 000 acres with this chemical.
I have seen it in action in many different circumstances.
Generally we use as little as possible for economic reasons to achieve a broad spectrum knock down of grasses and broad leaf seedlings.
In a low density situation where growing conditions are good and target plants are young I will apply as little as 250 ml/ ha diluted in 50 litres of water.
This equates to a quater of 1 ml per meter square.
This chemical will breakdown rapidly in sunshine and the environment and plants will translocate completely the chemical which settles on their leaves.
This chemical is often used in non agricultural situations by inexperienced operators in very high concentrations due to their lack of care or knowledge.
In those situations the chemical will behave in a manner for which it is not intended.
This is a simple chemical due to its broad target. i.e. the more selective a chemical is in it's target the more complex it will generally be.
Some more complex chemicals with narrow target spectrums are very residual and may affect the land for years after.
In high concentrations the relatively simple glyphosate chemical will not all break down in the manner intended and will continue to dilute with H2O in the environment and spread until it has completely done so.
The effect of making a moss disappear for years would most likely be due to the lack of regenerative material rather than the residual effect of the chemical if responsible and sensible procedures have been followed during the application of the chemical.
If one is not sure how to use a chemical correctly then they should seek professional advice or risk serious damage to their environment and unintended results.
My own experience with glyphosate is long. I have been spraying it over every acre I crop since around 1985.
As our cropping area over that time has averaged around 5000 acres I calculate that I have sprayed something in the vicinity of 115 000 acres with this chemical.
I have seen it in action in many different circumstances.
Generally we use as little as possible for economic reasons to achieve a broad spectrum knock down of grasses and broad leaf seedlings.
In a low density situation where growing conditions are good and target plants are young I will apply as little as 250 ml/ ha diluted in 50 litres of water.
This equates to a quater of 1 ml per meter square.
This chemical will breakdown rapidly in sunshine and the environment and plants will translocate completely the chemical which settles on their leaves.
This chemical is often used in non agricultural situations by inexperienced operators in very high concentrations due to their lack of care or knowledge.
In those situations the chemical will behave in a manner for which it is not intended.
This is a simple chemical due to its broad target. i.e. the more selective a chemical is in it's target the more complex it will generally be.
Some more complex chemicals with narrow target spectrums are very residual and may affect the land for years after.
In high concentrations the relatively simple glyphosate chemical will not all break down in the manner intended and will continue to dilute with H2O in the environment and spread until it has completely done so.
The effect of making a moss disappear for years would most likely be due to the lack of regenerative material rather than the residual effect of the chemical if responsible and sensible procedures have been followed during the application of the chemical.
If one is not sure how to use a chemical correctly then they should seek professional advice or risk serious damage to their environment and unintended results.